Windham softball All-Stars oust Bonny Eagle in second game of district tournament

Windham sixth-grader Kaylee Napolitano bats 
against Bonny Eagle during a District 6
All-Star softball tournament game at the
Westbrook Little League Complex.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA    

By Matt Pascarella

Windham Little League’s District 6 All-Star team played their second game of the 10-12-year-old softball tournament against Bonny Eagle on Sunday, June 27 and this one was much closer than their first game. Bonny Eagle had a 3-0 lead after three innings, but Windham battled back to win.

Windham tied the game at five in the bottom of the fifth inning when seventh-grader Chloe Delewski was patient and smart at the plate. She walked and stole her way around the diamond. Fifth-grader Eliana Kostopoulos crushed the ball for a double in the seventh inning and the 6-5 win over the Scots at the Westbrook Little League Complex.

In the bottom of the fourth, Windham put themselves on the board when sixth-grader Evelyn Anderson bunted and got on base. Next, sixth-grader Sarah Smyth singled. Anderson scored on an error by Bonny Eagle.

In the fifth inning, after Bonny Eagle bumped their lead to 5-1 Windham responded. Seventh-grader Belle Pinto was hit by the pitch. She shrugged it off and took her base. Pinto made it to second, then third on passed balls. Windham sixth-grader Kaylee Napolitano made it on base after another passed ball. Seventh-grader Lacie Higgins bunted out and Pinto scored.

Seventh-grader Addison Caiazzo walked in the fifth. Delewski stepped up to the plate and here’s where Windham turned up the heat on Bonny Eagle. After Napolitano scored, Delewski, disciplined, let four balls go by. She took her base, then quickly stole second. This brought in Caiazzo. Delewski, running fast made it to third and kept going. She beat the throw and crossed home plate. The game was tied at five.

“It felt good ... it’s like the fastest I’ve ever run in my life. It was really nice to do that in a game,” said Delewski. “I felt proud of myself because I actually did it.”

Windham held off Bonny Eagle for the last two innings with Caiazzo on the mound.

In the bottom of the seventh, Higgins and Caiazzo walked. Kostopoulos was at the plate, with two strikes against her. “I knew that ... if I hit it, we would be in good shape and we would have won the game,” said Kostopoulos. “In my head I was really nervous ...  (but) I knew that I could do it.” And she did. She doubled to left field and brought in the run needed.

Windham coach Nick Caiazzo saw a lot of determination in various players like Pinto who was hit by a pitch, Smyth who got injured and went back in the game and Delewski who played smart and let a walk turn into runs. <